Rita Gorr

Rita Gorr (18 February 1926 – 22 January 2012) was a Belgian operatic mezzo-soprano. She possessed a large, rich-toned voice and was an intense singing-actress, especially in dramatic roles such as Ortrud (Lohengrin) and Amneris (Aida), two of her greatest roles.

Life and career Gorr was born Marguerite Geirnaert into a working-class family in the industrial town of Zelzate, near Ghent, Belgium. After leaving school she worked as a nurse, where the family who employed her discovered her singing and paid for her first lessons.

Gorr can be heard in two of her greatest roles on recordings: Ortrud in Lohengrin in the 1965 studio performance under Erich Leinsdorf, opposite Sándor Kónya and Lucine Amara, as well as in the 1959 live performance from the Bayreuth Festival conducted by Lovro von Matačić; and Amneris in Aida in the 1961 studio performance under Georg Solti, opposite Leontyne Price and Jon Vickers. Other recorded roles include Dalila in Samson and Delilah under Georges Prêtre in 1962 (studio), Charlotte in Werther under Jésus Etcheverry in 1964 (radio broadcast) , Margared in Le Roi d'Ys under André Cluytens in 1957 (studio), Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites under Pierre Dervaux in 1958 (studio), Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande under Jean Fournet in 1953 (studio) , Fricka in Die Walküre under Erich Leinsdorf in 1961 (studio), as well as both roles of Fricka in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, Grimgerde in Die Walküre and the Third Norn in Götterdämmerung — all four in live performances at the Bayreuth Festival in 1958 under Hans Knappertsbusch. She also recorded excerpts from Orphée et Eurydice (Orphée), Hérodiade (title role) and La damnation de Faust, as well as recitals on Pathé. Gorr can be heard in one of her rarest roles, in an excerpt from Cherubini's Medea (recorded in French) with the Orchestre du Theatre National de l'Opera under Georges Prêtre on ASTX 130502 Pathe-Marconi, and in excerpts from two of her other Wagner roles — Isolde and Elisabeth — under André Cluytens on Testament SBT1256.

In her later life, Gorr made her home in Dénia, Spain. Oresko describes her as giving "the impression of regal grandeur and control by the solidness of her vocal production and a unique gift for instinctive authority".